


Too Young For Heroes

by cathinda1



Category: The Gifted (TV 2017)
Genre: 4 kids, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Reference to torture but not massive, Swearing, adorable kids, awesome powers, little besties
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-06 23:00:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13421451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cathinda1/pseuds/cathinda1
Summary: John and Clarice became parents to twin girls four years before the start of the series, they became parents mere days after Lorna and Marcos became parents to Aurora, not a week after the twins were born, a dear friend of the four had a daughter. Now with the girls living in the Mutant Underground, they face things they never thought would happen, having spent their early years protected, their potential in their powers grows until even they become terrified by what they can do. With the arrival of the Strucker's, things are about to get a whole lot more difficult





	1. Hold On

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own the characters from the show, I only really own Adaline and the girls. Please let me know what you think and where improvements could be made. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so all of my chapter titles have very little relevance to the chapter itself but are named after one of the songs listened to while writing the chapter.

The Mutant Underground Headquarters had never really been a place for children to spend long periods of time. However for four very unique girls, it became a home from the moment they were born. They were all born within a week of each other with Aurora Diaz being the eldest having been born on the 1st of September 2013. Her best friend Evanna was next being born on the 4th and only 3 minutes older than her twin Rosie. Rosie's best friend, Imogen, was born on the 7th making her the youngest of the quartet. Mutant abilities. That was something the girls were used to as well, not only had they grown up around people with powers but they had their own, their own which were stronger than anything anyone else had ever seen. Aurora could manipulate nature, ranging from plants to weather to simpler animals while her best friend could manipulate atoms (although not very well yet), tearing apart objects or lifting the beds when playing the floor is lava. Rosie could manipulate water and fire, creating and dousing flame before making lakes appear from nowhere. Imogen had power over biological creatures ranging from bacteria to elephants. In short the girls powers were nothing far from terrifying.

Night fell over the abandoned bank that proved sanctuary to so many mutants but there was no rest yet for John, Clarice, Marcos, Lorna or Adaline who had all just been told about a young mutant fugitive on the run from the cops, "I'll stay with the girls," offered Adaline Strucker-Noble as the others all grabbed jackets preparing to face the rain hammering the world, "They need to get to bed anyways, it's only practical," she reasoned with her friends who rolled their eyes knowing that she just wanted to avoid the cold, Adaline may have been a Marine but she really had no tolerance for the cold. Almost 2 hours had passed before the four had found the fugitive, she had been hiding in a warehouse when the cops found them and a gunfight started, the young fugitive hiding herself as they made a run for the car. Marcos was shot leading o Lorna attacking and being arrested.

Nearly 3 hours passed before anyone came towards Lorna who was being held in a clearly temporary cell, her powers were uninhibited and the cuffs were plastic zip ties. The man approached the cell,  
"Ms. Dane. My name is Reed Strucker." Lorna narrowed her eyes at the man, he was the man who had caused Ada years of locking herself away from anyone,  
"This is my associate, Carla Jackson -" Lorna had enough of playing calm,  
"I'd offer you a seat, but..." she motioned around the empty cell which held nothing but her inside,  
"You're accused of the attempted murder of two police officers. That plus the enhanced sentencing due to the use of your mutant abilities-" Reed was interrupted by Lorna who rolled her eyes,  
"Equals I'm screwed! Yeah. I got that part." Lorna's eyes turned cold as she glared at the man, hating every bone within his body.,  
"Look all I know is that I was walkin' home when these cops shot at me." Lorna lied with a shrug of her shoulders, Reed approached the door to the cell,  
"Come on, Ms. Dane. You and I both know that you and your associates in the Mutant Underground have aided and abetted dozens, if not hundreds, of fugitives," Lorna couldn't help but smirk as her friends father entered her cell despite the warning of his associate,  
"Believe it or not, I'm trying to help you. These are serious charges, attempted murder -" Lorna twisted her had slightly, the man cried out slightly in pain as Lorna messed with screws in his knee,  
"Those screws in your knee? An old sports injury? If I wanted to, I could pull out those screws and show you some attempted murder. If I wanted those cops dead, they'd be dead." Lorna dropped her hand making Reed lift a piece of paper from his file and show it to Lorna,  
"There's a factor that you may not be aware of." Lorna's eyes widened as she looked at the piece of paper,  
"I'm gonna ask the court to assign you a lawyer, okay? You've got a big decision to make, Ms. Dane." Reed stepped back from Lorna who was shaking, he left the room with her screaming causing the lights and a mirror to shatter,  
"Just think it over." Reed said before leaving the room followed by his associate.

Fourteen hours passed before John, Marcos and Clarice arrived back at the HQ with the fugitive who they'd found out was called Natalie. The four headed into the building where Sage took Natalie and the others headed into an empty office, John began putting a patch over the bullet wound on Marcos' arm when Ada came in,  
"What happened? Where's Lorna?" John spoke,  
"We got attacked, she got grabbed." Ada watched Clarice pace the room, Ada's mind was spinning, her marine training telling her to keep cool while her heart was screaming for her to rescue her friend.   
"Ada!" Came a shout from John, she looked up to see that the others had left the room and were stood watching a news report, Ada came into the tech room and began watching with them<  
"Yes, and as we have reported, breaking news on the mutant attack at Belleview High. We believe two young mutants to be responsible for the destruction. We've also heard that Federal authorities will be getting involved." Adeline's eyes went dark as she heard the report,  
"What was the school?" She asked, not even turning but her voice was dark, cold, it made John tense, it was the same voice she had held when the two served their first tour together,  
"Belleview High." Finally she turned around with wide eyes,  
"No. No it can't be. No!" The 26 year old was filled with a frenzy of worry and anger as she stared towards the screen and then back to her 'brothers' and her 'sister' before speaking,  
"That's my old school! Andy and Lauren should be attending now, that's where they would've gone!" John came over to her, placing one of his hands on either of her shoulders,  
"Just because it's their school doesn't mean it was them." Adaline shook her head, John's soft voice not calming her,  
"Don't give me that! You and I both know that they have a higher chance of being mutants because I was born one." John wrapped his arms around his friend as her knees buckled at the thought of her younger siblings being in danger. She had fallen out with her parents yes, but never with Andy or Lauren, they were 5 and 7 when she had left, they wouldn't really remember her now. Ada's pale blue hair framed her face as her john looked into the eyes the colour of orange autumn leaves.  
"Do we help them?" Marcos asked,  
"No." Adaline spoke in a shaky voice as she shook her head,  
"We help them if they contact us. I'm not making them live in fear if they don't have to." The other three all nodded and they all left the room heading for their beds.

The night passed painfully slow for some of the permanent residents at the HQ, one of their own was missing and they didn't know how to help them. Natalie spent the following morning answering Sage's questions but by 3 pm she found Marcos in the vault as he tried to find a way to break Lorna out of jail, the four girls had been playing random games since about lunch time so every now and then a burst of colour would go sprinting past before disappearing. Natalie knocked on the vault door before entering,  
"Is this your dog?" Natalie asked, Marcos cast his eyes to where Zingo was lying on the couch,  
"She - uh - she's everyone's dog really." Natalie walked over to the couch and began fussing the dog,  
"Look, I just wanted to say thank you... for, y'know, savin' me. Even though I threw a coffee pot at your head," Marcos let out a breath,  
"And a mug," Natalie smirked,  
"And a mug," she repeated, Marcos shook his head slightly,  
"Don't worry about it," he said going back to cutting a cement block with his lasers. Natalie sat on the couch looking around,  
"So this group? You guys run it?" She asked looking back at Marcos,  
"The networks nation wide, founded after the anti-mutant laws first..." His voice faded as a mass of deep blues and greens ran into the room and threw herself over the couch, landing on the concrete floor with a thud before muttering something incoherent,  
"Aurora?" Marcos asked causing the girl to peer at him showing as little of herself as possible,  
"yeah..." she drew out, looking directly at Marcos then to the doorway and then back at Marcos again,  
"What are you doing?" He asked, feeling like he should be slightly concerned,  
"Hidin'!" Aurora exclaimed causing Marcos to nod sarcastically,  
"Yeah, I can see that. I meant, why?" the four year old rolled her eyes in a way that Marcos knew would've made Lorna proud,  
"Cos Evie gotta come find us so we have to  _hide_ " the child exaggerated with a sigh, Marcos shook his head as his daughter slowly disappeared behind the couch,  
"Why did I even ask," Marcos muttered just as a bundle of neon bounded into the room, took one look at Marcos and left just as fast as she had entered.

“There are kids here?!” Natalie asked slightly shocked,  
“Yeah, there are four permanent residence who are kids, mine and Lorna’s daughter, Aurora. John and Clarice’s two, Eva and Rosie. And then there’s Imogen who’s Adaline’s.” Natalie nodded before returning to her earlier conversation which carried on for about 2 minutes before Natalie saw a girl with black hair with subtle streaks of blue in it come to the doorway, she was the most ordinary looking of the girls until Natalie saw her eyes, they were electric green, the girl folded her arms over her chest covering the dinosaur tee she was wearing and look Marcos up and down before entering the room. Her electric eyes scanned the area before she held her left hand out and flicked her wrist, using her powers to lift the couch like it was a sheet of paper, Aurora clung on as long as she could but Eva began shaking it making her friend fall,  
“Got you!” Eva, the younger of the two, yelled,  
“Yeah but you cheated! Tell her daddy!” Marcos shook his head,  
“She used what she could.” Eva giggled at her uncle while Aurora stuck her tongue out at him before the two took hands and ran off, a faint green glow following them.  
“Eva manipulates atoms, Aurora can control nature. The two can combine their powers and control natural disasters. The other two can combine and they get elemental weapons, Imogen controls biological objects and Rosie can manipulate elements.” Marcos explained to the woman who was watching the forest green light dissipate,  
“Well then they all combine and they get absolute control, they can control anything and everything. That one terrifies them so they don’t really use it.” Marcos added, Natalie looked over to him with a slightly questioning glace making him shrug his shoulders.

 

Just then, Marcos’ phone rang, flipping it open he saw a number he didn’t recognise,  
“Hello,” Marcos said calmly, getting up from where he was sat,  
“Is this Marcos Diaz?” The voice on the end of the line asked,  
“Uh-huh. Who’s this? How’d you get this number?” Marcos asked,  
“My name is Reed Strucker” Marcos looked over to where Ada was stood with her back to him, watching the children while chatting with Clarice,  
“My family needs help getting across the border. You and the people you work with, you do that right?” Strucker asked, Marcos didn’t take his eyes from Ada but answered the man,  
“Maybe.” Marcos stated, giving nothing away,  
“Did you hear about the mutant incident? At the high school? Those were my children.” Marcos took his eyes from Ada,  
“I’m sorry I can’t-” before Marcos could finish, Strucker interrupted him,  
“I was a prosecutor for the city. I was responsible for building a case against you and your associates for the districts attorney’s office.” Marcos rolled his eyes, this man really wasn’t giving him a reason to help him out.  
“And you’re calling me for help? Why should I lift a finger for you?” Marcos hissed,  
“Because I can help you. Your, uh, your associate, Lorna Dane, goes by Polaris?” Marcos stopped walking suddenly,  
“What do you know about Lorna?” He asked with urgency,  
“You want to help her, you can talk to me. You know about her medical condition?” The man said calmly,  
“What are you talking about? What medical condition?” Marcos asked, panic evident in his voice,  
“You gonna help my family?” The man asked, _son of a bitch_ Marcos thought,  
“What are you talking about?” He hissed again,  
“I want a meeting!” The man on the other side snapped,  
“Yes. Fine. I’ll meet you, just tell me!” Marcos’ voice was low but was venomous,  
“She’s pregnant.” The man stated simply. Marcos gave him the location of Fade’s bar knowing that it would be the best place to meet if the man were to bring cops.

 

Marcos left the underground quickly and was gone about an hour when Natalie came up the stairs to find John or Clarice or someone who would know what to do. As she approached the top of the stairs she saw John and Clarice going over a map and a list with another member of the HQ. Clarice was sat on John’s lap with his arm wrapped around her,  
“Go see what you can do.” Clarice said, handing the man the list before turning to Natalie,  
“What’s up?” Clarice asked in a cheerful tone,  
“I need to talk to you. It’s about Marcos…” John sighed while Clarice chuckled,  
“Look, Marcos… He’s an emotional guy. So whatever he said, just don’t take it personally.” John said calmly while his hand drew circles in Clarice’s side,  
“No. it’s not about that. Its – he got a phone call from some guy, something about helping a family. He ran off about an hour ago,” Clarice stood up at this, John’s hand remained on the small of her back,  
“Alone.” Natalie stated,  
“What?” Clarice asked shocked,  
“Why didn’t you tell us?” John pushed, standing up himself and walking from behind the desk,  
“Because he told me not to, and he didn’t want to get anyone else involved, because it was dangerous. But then I thought about how I owe his girlfriend, and she’d be pissed if he died.” Clarice sighed,  
“C’mon,” Natalie looked at her,  
“What? We don’t even know where he is!” She called after the pair,  
“I found you. Trust me. I can find him,” John said calmly before heading down the stairs, on the way they saw Ada,  
“Hey Addie, can you be a star and put all the girls to bed tonight?” John asked,  
“I was going to anyway.” She said, kissing his cheek. John shook his head at her antics before he caught up with the two women.

 

Ada reached the door to the girls room, she burst it open,  
“The floor is lava, mo-om” Imogen yelled to her mother,  
“Well I’m dead then.” She said before smirking and hopping onto one of the beanbags,  
“C’mon bed time.” The four girls groaned in chorus which made Ada chuckle,  
“Pyjamas at least,” The girls all looked at Ada with suspicion,  
“Where’s momma and daddy?” Eva asked, as she did so, the girls stopped manipulating the air or making the beds float ( **A/N Rosie manipulate the elements while Eva is the one making the beds float)** and they all flopped down onto the beds,  
“They’ve just had to go out to get Rory’s dad out of trouble,” this caused all the girls to laugh,  
“Right! Pyjamas and then you can play for 5 more minutes. No more!” All the girls cheered and raced to get their pyjamas on so they could keep playing. The girls all grabbed their pyjamas as quick as they could, Eva changed into her dinosaur ones which said ‘Don’t wake sleepy Dino’, Rosie’s were Beauty and the Beast ones, Aurora’s were Harry Potter ones that said ‘Don’t let the Muggles get you down’, and lastly Imogen pulled on her ones which were covered in ice creams with faces. All the girls grabbed their stuffed toys, Imogen’s was a rhino, Rosie’s was a penguin, Aurora’s was a frog and Eva’s was shockingly a dinosaur. The girls were quick back to playing but didn’t get long because true to her word, Ada came back in five minutes later and helped get the girls into bed. She began reading a story when suddenly there was yelling and a load of commotion downstairs. Ada looked at all of the girl’s scared faces,  
“Stay here. I’ll be back. If I’m not, come and find me.” The girls nodded but couldn’t sleep. They each clutched a soft toy while they sat in pure silence. After almost five minutes, the girls all decided that they wanted to see what was going on, they headed out of the door and saw Clarice lying unconscious on the bench and Ada was yelling at a woman and two teenagers.


	2. Fireflies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Clarice's powers go out of control, John feels fear stronger than ever and Ada has to tackle her demons in the form of her mother and siblings all the while trying to help her friends and care for her daughter and the other girls who are seeing members of their family hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has taken so long, I've had my mock GCSE's and I've been ill so between revision and being ill I've just not had the motivation to write but chapter 3 is already underway so hopefully that will be up soon.

Ada left the door slightly ajar before walking to the railing from there she looked down and saw the impossible; Clarice was lying in Marcos’ arms while two teens and a woman were yelling at John, she instantly recognised them. Heading down the stairs she held up her right hand and clenched a loose fist, the yelling turned to cries of pain, John turned and saw his surrogate sister walking towards them, she dropped her fist and the three looked at her,  
“Hi Mom!” She exclaimed icily, “I see that it’s only me you abandon.” It was clear that Ada’s words hit Caitlin like a bullet, she looked at Ada while gasping for air,  
“We thought you were dead.” John began answering their questions while Ada ran over to where her best friend lay,  
“Clare, c’mon darlin’ open your eyes!” Ada’s voice was soft but held an accent that having lived her whole life in Atlanta, she shouldn’t have,   
“You have to explain this. What just happened? Where are we?!” Caitlin snapped,  
“This is our headquarters.” Ada said,  
“We have to go back, please!” She snapped again,  
“Just hang on.” John responded calmly,  
“Hang on! Hang on? My husband is in that building. We can’t just leave him,” Her voice was angry, but Andy spoke  
“W-we have to go back for him. He was shot, we have to go back now!” John looked directly at him,  
“Even if we could go back it is a very bad idea. I know you wanna help you dad but its suicide. It won’t help him if we all die! Right now we gotta take care of Clarice.” Marcos lifted Clarice, moving her towards the medic area, the Strucker’s were still yelling all the while no one was really paying any attention.  
“It hurts,” Clarice mumbled, the weakness in her voice grabbing John’s attention, Clarice fell,  
“Hey, love, c’mon keep your eyes open for me.” John spoke barely loud enough for anyone to hear, Natalie stood not really sure what to do. She was listening to the Strucker teens yelling at Clarice,  
“You've got to wake her up. Hey! - Can you wake her up, please?” Andy asked leaning over Marcos’ shoulder, Ada waved her hand causing pain to once again fill Andy just as Marcos yelled,  
“Kid!” Silence reigned over the room.  
“Look, your dad was gonna help me get my girlfriend out of jail. I want him here just as much as you do, but we cannot do this right now. All right?” Andy finally nodded. The yelling had caused the four girls to leave their room and they walked cautiously towards the adults, each heading to their own parent, Ada lifted Imogen into her arms, the element manipulator curled into her mother’s hold while making sure that oxygen was going into Clarice’s lungs. Marcos put a hand on his daughters head, she hated the fact that in situations like this, control of nature wasn’t useful. The twins stood on either side of John just looking at their mother in fear. Eva’s hands left her ears now that the shouting had died down slightly, she had inherited enhanced senses from her father, they weren’t as extreme as John’s but her hearing was a hell of a lot stronger than normal, all the shouting had gotten to her leading her into a panic as the noises grew and grew in her ears. Caitlin was in the process of telling them how she needed a hospital and certain medicines to make Clarice better.  
All too quickly a portal appeared with a truck driving straight towards it, the four girls ran towards the stairs just as the rear of the pickup was cut from the front and sent through the portal, it hit into the four girls followed by Caitlin, Marcos and Ada, and lastly John who had pushed the teens out the way. The trailer came to a halt but everyone waited a few seconds before moving,  
“Is anyone hurt?!” John yelled as he stood then helped the teens up and around the trailer. Marcos ran over to the girls, none of them were hurt, just badly shaken up. John lifted Clarice up from the bench.  
“We gotta move her!” John yelled, Marcos ran over to a table calling to Shatter,  
“Clear the table. Now!” Everyone was fond of Clarice, she gave everyone a chance but she looked out for the people she trusted, suddenly the tables had flipped and the people she trusted were having to look after her. Adaline grabbed the girls out of the way as John passed through, laying Clarice gently onto the metal table,  
“Look!” Andy said, pointing into a hallway, “it’s happening again,”  
“that’s the same road…” Lauren muttered after seeing the broken truck,  
“This is a problem.” Ada stated as she let go of the girls,  
“They can see us,” Marcos said as he, John and Ada approached the portal. Marcos made his palms glow and began raising one before it was caught by John,  
“We are not getting into a pitched battle with innocent bystanders,” John hissed at Marcos,  
“Yeah? What about him?” Marcos questioned, nodding his head towards a man cocking a shotgun. At that moment, Lauren jogged around the three and began using her powers to force the portal closed. Andy looked at his sister shocked while Ada couldn’t help but smirk,  
“Dude! What’d you just do!?” Andy called, Lauren shook her head,  
“I dunno, I used shields to close it, I didn’t think it’d work…” Her voice was quiet and faded off slightly as she looked towards where John, Ada and Marcos were all stood,  
“Yeah, for now. Clarice is in bad shape that could happen again.” John said with a nod,  
“Again? Look if people start coming through then we’re toast.” Ada added, mainly talking to John and Marcos rather than her family,  
“Hey.” Marcos called, grabbing Caitlin’s attention, “If we get you that medicine can you help her from here?” Caitlin laughed slightly causing Ada to flex her hand,  
“You can’t just buy hypercortisone-D at Walgreens. You have to get to the hospital, get in the Pyxis machine.” John ran a hand over his face before glancing at the twins who were stood with their friends all looking at Clarice, pale with worry,  
“Then we’ll take you.” Marcos said looking at Caitlin before turning to Lauren, “now if that happens again, can you do… whatever it is you just did?” Lauren nodded at him,  
“Yeah, I think so,” Ada looked to her younger sister, as Marcos nodded,  
“Good.” He turned back to Caitlin who had an exasperated look on her face,  
“NO! No, I’m not leaving my daughter here to close space holes!” Ada couldn’t help rolling her eyes,  
“Mom. It’s ok. I can do this.” Whit that, Marcos and Caitlin left, Aurora seemed to want to go after her dad but was lifted into Ada’s arms,  
“’s alrigh’ darlin’ he’ll be back soon, yeah? He just need to go an’ get some stuff for Clare.” The little girl nodded at her aunt before she was placed back on the ground. Lauren and Andy watched the interaction with distant eyes, Ada had been like that with them before she left. Andy didn’t really remember his older sister but he did remember her smile and the way that she could always make him laugh.   
“So who is she?” Andy asked not so delicately,  
“John’s girlfriend,” Ada said before John could speak,  
“She’s a leader here, mother of the twins and yes she’s my girlfriend,” John said, Rosie came over to John,  
“Daddy, what wrong wi’ momma?” John lifted his younger daughter into his arms, brushing a strand, pink-y purple hair from her face only to have a streak of green fall in its place,  
“She’s not well,” he turned to look at the rest of the girls, “why don’t you guys go upstairs.” He place Rosie back on her feet and she and Imogen quickly ran off upstairs, Aurora and Eva hung back for a moment, John placed his hand on Eva’s head,  
“She’ll be alright, Trouble.” It was that comment that caused the eldest two of the four girls to run off upstairs in pursuit of their friends.   
Just as the girls disappeared from sight another portal opened,  
“Hey! It’s happening!” Ada yelled to Sonia, “get everyone safe!” Sonia yelled for everyone to clear,  
“Lauren? You got this?” John asked the teen at the same time, Lauren walked to the portal and began closing it while John focused his hearing onto what the police were saying. Ada watched her friend closely while she flexed her hand ready to take over if Lauren couldn’t close the portal. Suddenly the portal snapped shut causing Lauren to stumble back slightly,  
“That was way too close.” Andy said to which Lauren nodded,  
“I’ll be back in a minute, if that happens again you yell.” John said before grabbing Ada’s hand before jogging off up the stairs to where Sonia was stood,  
“What’s happening, Johnny?” Sonia asked,  
“I don’t know, they just keep opening, I mean Lauren’s able to close ‘em for now but…” His voice faded as he looked between Sonia and Ada,  
“Look the cops are gearing up, I heard ‘em calling in the SWAT team,” Ada shot her head to look at John,  
“So next time the portal open’s we’re gonna ‘ave so serious problems.” Ada chided Sonia looked back and forth between John and Ada who seemed to be having a conversation just through their eyes,  
“Mind filling me in?”  
“We need to ready to evacuate if necessary.” John explained, Sonia shook her head,  
“No! We need to get her away from here!” Sonia had never really liked Clarice, less so when she found out that she was dating John, the man who she had been trying to get with since she arrived.   
“Moving her is too dangerous, it just made things worse last time.” Ada pointed out.  
“So what are we gonna do?” Sonia asked looking to John for an answer,  
“We are gonna hope that Marcos gets back here with the medicine in time.” He said before heading back downstairs with Ada.  
The two approached where Clarice was lying, John gently pressed his hand against her arm,  
“She’s burning up,” his voice was quiet and Ada could see the fear hidden in his eyes, something that she’d only seen a handful of time before.   
“This is getting worse,” His voice was slightly louder now, he topped when he heard Clarice muttering,  
“Hurts… it hurts…” John gripped her hand in his as Sonia approached, John gently brushed some hair from Clarice’s face, refusing to let go of her hand unless absolutely necessary. She gasped again,  
“Have to get away…” Her voice was almost fragile,  
“We need to start getting everybody out,” John looked at Sonia as he spoke,  
“We are not gonna abandon this place!” Sonia yelled in a whisper,  
“I don’t see what choices we have. Clarice is opening portals every few minutes now and Lauren can’t keep this up.” Ada shot back,  
“I can keep trying.” Lauren said through her exhaustion.   
“Mom has to be back soon right?” Andy asked trying not to sound as scared as he was,  
“Maybe. We need to consider the possibility –” Ada never got to finish as another portal ripped open,   
“This may be it! We might have to evacuate! Clarice!” John yelled as Lauren tried to close the portal,  
“I can’t hold it!” She yelled, falling backwards, John moved into a defensive position as he saw an armed officer come through, Ada was closer than John so gripped her hands causing the man to collapse in pain before he had a chance to shoot. John ran over grabbing the man, Ada didn’t let up until John had thrown him against the ceiling and back out of the portal. Still it didn’t close. Andy ran over using his power to force the men away but also causing the table holding Clarice to flip over. The portal snapped shut but Clarice was creating more and more now.  
“What do we do?” Lauren said, terror in her voice,  
“Get out. Get everyone out!” John yelled to the small group.  
Sonia set to work on getting most people out while Ada took Lauren’s hand,  
“I need you to help me.” Lauren nodded, following her sister upstairs. They headed straight to the girls’ room where they were cuddled up against the far wall, still in their pyjamas clutching their stuffed animals, Imogen held her arms out to her mother as the two women ran in,  
“Grab the twins!” Ada called to her sister while she grabbed Imogen and Aurora. Running outside they put the kids down just in time for Marcos and Caitlin to come round the corner, Aurora ran straight into her father’s arms while Marcos checked her for any obvious injuries and Caitlin hugged Andy and Lauren and then, surprising everyone, she hugged Ada, Ada tensed and flexed her hands, eyes meeting Marcos’ fuelled with panic, Marcos coughed causing Caitlin to let go which allowed for Ada to relax.  
She ran inside and after a few minutes the portals stopped, people began slowly making their way back inside to see John lifting Clarice onto a bed as Caitlin attached her to an IV drip. John saw his friends and the girls before he nodded at them. Marcos ushered the four girls into their room where he settled them down for bed as Ada came over to her ‘brother’,  
“Y’know. It’s weird.” John turned his head slightly as Ada dropped an arm around his shoulders,  
“What is Addie?” He watched her face carefully knowing how she despised the nickname,  
“Well, I thought that the last time I would ever be on the same side as my family was when I was 14. I mean I spent 2 years living with people who practically wanted me in prison. Who didn’t care when I was locked in that Hell. And now here they are. Well most of them. And they want to help us. That’s something I thought I would die before I saw. An-and it makes me laugh, this whole idea that once, my mother and father were proud of having a daughter who was anything but normal, then they hated her, they then ran with their younger children. They didn’t even know their eldest was still alive, that she had a daughter.” John hugged Ada to his side, the two had a friendship going back long before joining the network, it had been John who’d heard Ada screaming one evening, it had been John and his friends who found Ada beaten and bloody losing control of her powers, John knew how much Ada hated talking about family and yet they were with them now.  
Everyone seemed to be asleep. Well everyone but Adaline and Caitlin, both had somehow subconsciously ended up in the kitchen. Caitlin rubbed her eyes as she approached the bright area, she saw only one figure in there so decided it was safe to enter, she almost turned around when she saw who it was. Almost.   
“Want coffee?” The simple question took Caitlin aback, she had expected a harsh comment or a snarky remark or something, not a question on whether she wanted coffee.  
“Look, John told me that there are many people ‘ere who would give anything’ to have their family with ‘em ‘n that I’ve got the opportunity to start fresh but I’m wastin’ it so I’ll ask again. Want coffee?” Caitlin felt a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth,  
“Umm yeah sure.” Ada smirked to herself, keeping her back to Caitlin so she didn’t see. Passing the older woman one of the mugs, she hopped onto the counter,  
“So how come you ran with Andy an’ Lauren anyhow?” Caitlin shrugged her shoulders,  
“It took me and Reed too long to realise that what we did to you was wrong. For years, we loved you and cherished you for being different and then when Reed joined the mutant task force, things slipped and we treated you like one of the mutants he was prosecuting and by the time we realised it was too late, you were gone. Where did you go?” Ada looked into the steaming mug in her hands,  
“I was recruited by the FBI, they wanted me as an interrogator but they really wanted to experiment on my, they spent two years torturing me, I still have episodes but the only ones who could ever bring me back were Marcos, John and… and Gus.” Caitlin looked at Ada questioningly,  
“Gus is… well was, Imogen’s dad. He died, two years ago.” Caitlin gave Ada a sorrowful look,  
“Yeah, it hurts still, less so now but… Anyway, after John rescued me, I found a family, his old commanding officer let me get checked out by the marine doctors and they all looked out for me, for a while I was in the marines, they nicknamed me WCS – Worst Case Scenario, they never wanted me to use my ability on anyone but if it came to it then I was ready. Me, John, Gus, our squad we were always at the front. We spent the night messing around, that was about five years ago now. I got honourably discharged when I found out that I was pregnant but the others left pretty sharp when the laws changed, our CO told us that we didn’t have to leave but he understood that we were fighting in our own war now. You have to know that I hate you. You and dad. You two made my life hell without a second though, I was tortured and all I could see was your faces, shame ridden. I hate you but I love you. And I hate that I love you.” Caitlin looked at Ada with wide eyes and took a sip of coffee only to start coughing.   
“Sorry, I’m making it strong. John always tells me that I make it poisonous so…” Caitlin smiled and before she could stop her, Ada turned and left the kitchen without another word heading straight to her room.  
Morning arose and Caitlin found John,  
“Hey um, can I have a word?” John looked at her and nodded,  
“Well it’s about Adaline…” She noticed John tense at the subject,  
“Well we were talking last night and she was saying how she was a science experiment-“ John’s glare hardened,  
“She was. Sentinel Services sent her to some place where they experimented on her. She told me that they’d said that it had been you and her father who gave her to them. You abandoned her on a street corner just because she was different. She was being tortured and became a living specimen!” John snapped,  
“What they were doing was legal!” Caitlin fired back,  
“Just because it’s legal doesn’t make it right. Here’s a news flash, darkness can't be beaten and if you’re surrounded in darkness then eventually that s what you become. Two years locked in the dark is a long time. She’s not in danger, she is the danger.” John hissed as a cry ripped through the bank, John caught Marcos’ eye, the pair flew down the stairs over to where Ada was collapsed, Marcos slid across the floor as John grabbed Ada’s hand directing all the pain she was projecting into himself, Marcos pressed her head against his chest with one arm and locked the other around her neck making her focus on her breathing,  
“It’s alright Ada! Adaline! Focus on my voice, nothing else.” John’s voice began to soften as the pain inside him dulled,  
“That’s it, breathe in and out, focus on that, nothing else, just the breathing, in and out. Forget the pain, I know it’s hard, you are not a monster. Not a machine. You’re a human being. A mother. A sister. A friend. In and out. That’s it.” Eventually the pain had subsided entirely and John collected Ada into his arms continuing to whisper words of comfort while glaring daggers at Caitlin.


	3. Certain Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Lorna and Reed seeming more and more distant, things grow tense at the HQ as the girls want to help and Caitlin and her two youngest kids sneak off. Ada struggles with her demons but can peace ever be true at the HQ.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day?! I'm spoiling you

It was late on Saturday evening and the four girls were sat near where the adults were debating, they wanted to try and listen but had lost the focus by concentration more on what they were colouring in. Marcos and John were arguing over what to do over Lorna,  
“So what? We just forget about Lorna because she’s behind bars?!” Marcos snapped at John,  
“You know that’s not what I’m saying!” He was doing his best to avoid raising his voice,  
“Well, god knows what she’s going through in there!” John rolled his eyes feeling like he’d had this conversation with Marcos 20 times in the last day,  
“You’re taking about breaking into a jail. With guards. With guns!” Marcos nodded,  
“Yeah. We have a way passed all of it. Clarice!” John tensed slightly, only visibly to Marcos and Ada, “You know what she can do John. Better than any of us. And you saw what she did the other day.” John nodded,  
“Yeah, I saw her tearing through the fabric of space, she almost destroyed the whole building. She almost died!” he snapped,  
“She fine now.” Marcos argued causing Caitlin to scoff,  
“In your expert medical opinion.” Marcos shrugged slightly,  
“Well she’s better than she was.”   
“Even if she is, she ain’t nowhere near ready to do what you’re proposin’,” Ada defended, Clarice was her best friend, seeing her hurt, it always made her angry and more likely to lose control of her powers,  
“Then train her. You both train her just like you trained most of the people in this room.”  
“Johnny, Clarice did get herself out of jail.” Sonia said. Ada, who was stood behind Marcos shared a look with John, both of them knew that Sonia was hoping to remove Clarice from the picture,  
“So you’re on his side?” John questioned,  
“I’m on Lorna’s side! She’s my friend.” John rolled his eyes.  
“You could use the new lady.” Came Eva’s voice, grabbing everyone’s attention.  
“What new lady darlin’?” Ada asked stepping over to the kids,  
“The one who you went to get when Mommy got taken,” Aurora added, not looking up from her colouring,  
“The one Evie made fall off the couch,” offered Rosie, looking at the pencils trying to find a colour,  
“Y’all meanin’ Natalie?” The four girls nodded in unison,  
“She can make things move to different places like aunty Clare but not with portals.” Explained Imogen, looking around at the different adults. John shook his head slightly,  
“Natalie can move things with her mind but she can’t put people in and out of a prison.” The girls all looked at each other,  
“we could destroy the prison to-” Marcos laughed,  
“Yeah that’s not happening Squirt. I get that you guys wanna help but this is dangerous.” The girls nodded and turned back to their colouring,  
“We still live in a country of laws. Have we tried calling a lawyer?!” Caitlin said, Ada rolled her eyes as the older woman continued,  
“Some members of congress are sympathetic towards mutants…” John shook his head,  
“You’re really overestimating –” Caitlin interrupted him  
“Why not try? We can attack a building but we can’t talk to a person?” Ada sat down on the couch, rubbing her forehead,  
“I thought you wanted a fight.” She said resting her chin on her hands with her elbows on her knees.  
“I do but there are ways to fight that don’t involve battles.” Ada couldn’t help but chuckle,  
“Not in my experience.” She mumbled, Caitlin didn’t take note,  
“I have contacts, I can reach out.” John shook his head slightly,  
“You can’t have contact with the outside world while you’re staying here. Sentinel Services will be looking for you. We can't risk the exposure.” Caitlin sighed exasperatedly,  
“Even if it could help?!”   
“Much better chances they turn on us.” Ada pointed out, her eyes darting between her friends and her mother,  
“Sorry Caitlin, it’s too dangerous.” Marcos added as a finality. Everyone split ways, the four girls staying colouring while Ada went to let off steam somewhere, John went to find Clarice and Marcos went back to trying to find a way to spring Lorna from Jail.

Heading upstairs, it didn’t take long for John to find Clarice, she was sat with her favourite book and curled up in one of the chairs, Zingo lying by her feet. John smiled as he walked over, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder making her jump.  
“Ok, so Marcos wants you to make a portal into a jail to rescue Lorna.” Clarice gave John a sceptical look,  
“Yeah that’s not gonna happen, Jay. I know that he want’s Lorna out of jail, I do too but it won’t work. I can't do anything, see,” as to prove her point she tried to open a portal but it just flickered for a few moments between her hands before it fizzled out, “you’d be better off with a couple glow sticks and a hacksaw.” John couldn’t help but smile,  
“Since I woke up, my powers, I dunno, they’re broken.” She shook her head as she spoke, John placed a hand on her knee,  
“Powers don’t break, when you were unconscious you were overextending them, you’ve probably just exhausted them.” Clarice nodded slightly, placing her hand on top of John’s as he met her eyes,  
“Tomorrow, why don’t we… try and get them up and runnin’ again?” Clarice smiled softly,  
“Yeah. What have I got to lose?” John smiled just as a flash of neon ran passed quickly followed by a flash of black and blue, both Clarice and john couldn’t help but laugh as they watch Imogen turn to face Eva causing the younger girl to fall over a couch she was running towards and Eva lift it just in time to pass under, Imogen responded by taking control of Eva and making her fall, causing her to drop the floating coach as Aurora and Rosie reached the top of the stairs. It was a few seconds before all the girls were up and running again.

It wasn’t long before night fell over the HQ, Marcos was sat with Aurora on his bed as he attempted to braid the girls hair, it reached just below her shoulders so Marcos had the stupid idea that it would be easy, he’d seen John braid Eva’s hair many times and Rosie’s but less so for Rosie, she hated having her hair up. Marcos had seen John do braids and they seemed so simple but they weren’t. Ada knocked on the door,  
“come in!” He called, Ada was struggling to stifle a laugh as she stepped into the room,  
“Want a hand? John’s upstairs laughing.” Marcos rolled his eyes,  
“Rory. Turns out your dad can't braid hair,” the little girl started to laugh at this as Ada brushed and braided the girls hair in mere moments before she lifted the girl to see Marcos looking at the pair. Aurora reached over to her dad who took her up to bed.

As morning arose, John and Clarice headed outside to try and train Clarice’s power,  
“You thought about what I said?” John asked,  
“Yeah but my power? I literally have the ability to bail out of bad situations, being afraid is just a big part of it.” John nodded,  
“Yeah but it’s not all of it. In the marines, when you want to give up, they train you to focus on something you care about, to hold on to it like your life depends on it because one day it will.” Clarice looked at her boyfriend,  
“What did you care about?” He met her eyes,  
“Back then, I still had a lot to prove, about being Apache, a mutant. That changed over the year, I gained you, the girls, a family.” Clarice smiled and hugged John to her side, she had known that things had often been hard for him but she was determined to make things easier,  
“Just focus on what you care about now.” John said placing his hand on Clarice’s back,  
“My warm jelly doughnuts.” She muttered, glancing at John with a smirk. She didn’t know quite why she referred to her family as her warm jelly doughnuts but had done so for years and she still did,  
“Ok, maybe put the coffee down,” Clarice took another swig before coughing,  
“Did you honestly let Ada make you coffee, again?” Clarice nodded,  
“I swear she’s trying to poison us she’s just not very good at it yet,” She said with a smile,  
“Anyway… look that way and picture that thing you love, and go to it.” John didn’t remove his hand from her back, he felt almost as if his power was being absorbed into Clarice as the portal grew,  
“Look at that,” he dropped his hand from her back and the portal collapsed.  
“See, last time I did this I nearly destroyed the whole –” John shook his head,  
“No, don’t do that. Don’t focus on the fear. Focus on-” his voice stopped as he tensed slightly, focusing his senses,  
“Yo, what’s up, hey!” Clarice called as John walked towards a broken twig, still green on the inside,  
“We have a problem.” He stated turning back to Clarice,  
“Y’know you should trademark that phrase,” John shot a playful glare at her and he went inside trying to find Marcos. After 15 minutes, John found Clarice,  
“I’m heading out with Marcos, the Strucker’s took off last night so we’re gonna go get them before they get themselves killed or arrested.” Clarice nodded, wrapping her arms around John’s waist,  
“Be careful,” she whispered as he kissed her gently. He nodded in response.

Further inside, Ada was downstairs in the training room, more like their gym. It was packed with everything they could possibly need for exercise, Shatter came down the stair and had to duck as a punch back flew towards him and became impaled against the wall. Ada was pissed, that much was clear,  
“You alright?” Shatter asked,  
“My mother is determined to bargain for Lorna’s release, her two younger children are actin’ like they can' survive withou’ their dad and Caitlin is treatin’ me like an animal so… I’d say I’m normal.” Shatter couldn’t help but chuckle,  
“Well, your boys wanted me to tell you they’ve gone to chase down your runaway family.” Ada threw her head back and let out an irritated sigh,  
“Seriously, I have been more stressed this week than in the past 9 years. What does that tell ya, Shatter?” He chuckled again,  
“That you’ve got a bad mix for a family.” She couldn’t help but laugh,  
“I knew there’s a reason you were my friend.” Shatter smiled and turned to leave,  
“Your boys’ll be pissed if they see that.” He motioned to the punching bag sticking out of the wall, she couldn’t help but wince slightly.

Night fell and passed without major issue, John, Marcos, and the Strucker’s were still nowhere to be found when Sonia ran over to Clarice,  
“Clarice!” The woman looked terrified as she approached Clarice, “Johnny, Thunderbird, he’s in trouble, they’re all in trouble!” Clarice glared at the woman,  
“What!?” Anger boiled deep inside Clarice,  
“There’s no time to explain. I need you to make a portal, get a car off the road.” Clarice’s eyes went wide,  
“A car? Are you insane?”   
“You have to!”  
“I told you, I can't!” Sonia was getting desperate,  
“You can if you have something to connect to.” And with that Sonia gave Clarice a memory, a fake one that she had given to John years ago when Clarice was on a supply run.  
“What happened?” Clarice asked in a slight daze.  
“Johnny’s in trouble out there, I need you to make a portal, can you do it?” Clarice nodded,  
“Yeah of cause, where are they?” She was already running off, a smirk played on Sonia’s lips,  
“Are you coming or what?” Clarice yelled over her shoulder. Ada came out of the girls room to see Clarice running off being followed by Sonia, _well that’s an interesting development_ , Ada thought before turning back to where the four girls were playing the floor is lava.

Outside, Clarice made a portal just as the SUV came into sight, _just think of them, of John playing with the twins, of the nights alone or the night being attacked by two lively girls just think of them_ , she kept telling herself over and over as the SUV disappeared through the portal followed by Sonia and then Clarice who jumped through, sealing the portal behind her. Her and Sonia ran towards where the SUV had stopped and John was getting out, she ran straight into his arms as the SUV continued to drive towards the main building,  
“Hey. Are you alright?” Clarice called as she ran straight into John’s waiting arms, he lifted her slightly and span,  
“I told ya you could do it. And yeah we’re all alright.” He place Clarice carefully on her feet, wrapping an arm around her waist as they headed towards the building,  
“I can't believe it worked I mean a freaking SUV!” John smiled, placing a kiss to Clarice’s temple as the two approached the door where they were ambushed by Rosie and Eva, Aurora was in Marcos’s arms while Imogen was holding hands with Andy and Lauren, John lifted Eva into his arms while Clarice lifted Rosie. They headed towards the mess where dinner was being prepared, Caitlin came over while everyone was eating and the girl were just chattering away,  
“My brother called, he had information about where they are moving Lorna and Reed. He wants to meet me tomorrow,” John nodded and Marcos told her that the two men would go with her. Caitlin left the table leaving the ‘family’ to their meal as they sat laughing at what the girls were saying. The girls soon fell tired and were lifted by their parents into their room, they were already in their pyjamas so they didn’t need to be woken up to be changed, they were just placed on their beds.

Later that night, Lauren came into one of the common area’s and saw Ada stood by the window,  
“What are you looking at?” Lauren’s voice was quiet,  
“A night sky filled with forgotten promises. Did mom ever tell you that when you were little?” Ada saw Lauren shake her head out the corner of her eye,  
“The stars are promises forgotten, the moo witnessed each be made and the sky is a blanket to stop them slipping away. Promises made in the sun become heavy and wash away in the rain, clouded in the fog and frozen in the snow. So I don’t ever want you to promise me but I want you assure me that as long as I have you under the same sky as me, my love for you will always be free.” Ada finished with a breathy laugh,  
“Biggest load of bull she ever said to me. She used to say it every night when I was a kid but it stopped being effective when I started showing powers because she no longer meant it.” Ada said gently knowing that Lauren was still filled with love for her mother while Ada was filled with hatred.   
“Do you ever sleep? I mean since I’ve been here I’ve never seen you actually stop to rest.” Ada smiled at this,  
“I have bad nightmares but they’re fading, before they were like burns or deep gashes that had ruptured my arteries and veins but now when I sleep it’s like my neck is being squeezed and he’s the one squeezing it, the dreams cloud my memories of a man who loved me more than himself and loved his daughter so dearly and yet the dreams make him a monster and my heart doesn’t know what to believe.” Lauren looked at Ada who had silent tears spilling down her cheeks, Lauren pulled her older sister into her arms clinging to her so tightly.   
“I know that I have no idea what you’ve gone through in the past 9 years but talking helps, even if it’s the barest minimum, it can help.” Ada smiled,  
“Every day I feel guilty. I ran out on mom and dad, for them I don’t care, but I also ran out on you and Andy, you were only kids, you’d done nothin’ wrong and yet I left ya to blame ya selves for me leavin’ I didn’ offer any closure because I was too much of a coward to go back.” Lauren gripped her sister tighter in her arms.  
“That doesn’t matter now.”

Morning arose and everyone at the HQ was up and active. Everyone except one person Adaline Strucker-Noble. John went to her room and focused his hearing on just her heartbeat, she was at peace, he opened the door and saw a gentle smile on her lips, he daren’t enter so he closed the door slowly, sending a nod to Marcos who let out a breath. Heading out with Caitlin proved uneventful, they found out that Lorna and Reed were going to be moved to a secret detention centre and a couple of other bits of information but other than that it was nothing of use.

Arriving back at the HQ and John and Marcos sat down with Clarice and the girls and began playing with them, John heard Ada’s door open and could see her from where he was sat, she was still wearing her bed clothes, one of Gus’ tees and a pair of joggers. She didn’t come over and join them instantly, instead she found Lauren and wrapped her arms around her sister and then her brother followed by her mother which was a much stiffer hug but an improvement. Ada headed over to the group where she sat next to Marcos and John as the girls rolled the ball around. Ada was at peace after nearly two years. A peace that hadn’t been possible from the nightmares and the pain but it was clearing slowly, that much was clear as she sat playing with her new family, her old one just in sight. She finally felt safe. At peace. At home.


End file.
